The study has found the COVID-19 virus can travel up to 13 feet (four meters) examining air samples from hospital wards with infected patients.
The primary results of the research by Chinese researchers were published in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The researcher team of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing, tested potentially contaminated objects. They tested surface and air samples from an intensive care unit and a general COVID-19 ward at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan. They collected samples from a total of 24 patients between February 19 and March 2.
The investigation shows that the virus was most heavily concentrated on the floors of the wards. The team wrote, “perhaps because of gravity and air flow causing most virus droplets to float to the ground”.
The team wrote, “Furthermore, half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive”. Therefore, the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers.”
High level virus were also found on often touched surfaces like computer mice, bed rails, trashcans and door knobs.
Surprisingly the study found that, no members of the hospital staff were infected, “indicating that appropriate precautions could effectively prevent infection,” the authors wrote.
US health authorities have adopted more cautious steps. They advising people to cover their faces when in public so they can protect themselves from virus transmission when breathing and speaking.
The team also studied aerosol transmissions, or virus droplets which become suspended in the air for several hours. This is to mention that cough or sneeze droplets fall to the ground within seconds.
They found that virus-laden aerosols were mainly concentrated near to the downstream from patients at up to 13 feet though some smaller quantities were found upstream, up to eight feet.
